Scary movies - a coward's perspective

[Jaws - what a terrifying concept for coastal dwellers}

I hate scary movies!

I cannot bear them.

From the first day of our marriage, Michele and I have agreed to never watch them. Generally this is a rule that we have followed with great happiness. But we have watched some on the odd occasion. In fact about a month ago, Michele decided to play a prank on me so she brought home the movie “lights out”, I think she got bigger frights than me (I pretended to be watching but I was actually playing some chess on my tablet). What do you think of genre kind of movie? Do you like the adrenaline that courses through your veins, or do you like the feeling of relief when its all over?

It's the suspense that kills me.

When the gory chip chopping, and carnage in general, is happening, I can deal with that. You know “Jaws”, the shark movie? It is based on a book by Peter Benchley. Because I am such an avid reader, I had already read the book, but that made no difference for me, I actually hid behind the seat. It was a masterfully made movie where suspense was built up, mostly through through music. Have you ever heard the music? To watch the movie, even today, will be thoroughly entertaining and the music is unforgettable. About half the movie passes before you see the shark. I was about 15 or 16 years old when the movie came out in 1975. In the one scene the oceanographer dives in the sea at night time to investigate a wrecked boat, when he investigates the damaged vessel, obviously when in the pitch black water, a severed head rolls out of the hole in the hull of the boat and gives everyone a great fright. I only saw the head on the 3rd time that I watched the movie. I lived at a coastal town, East London and without any exaggeration, I lost my appetite for swimming in the sea. I knew it was all hype, but tell my mind that! Two years later another movie from the same author came out, “the Deep”, also in water, darkness and that time a giant moray eel instead of a great white shark. All the teenage guys went because Jacqueline Bisset swam with a white T-shirt in the opening scene, I need not say anymore. Again the suspense was too much for me to handle.

In that same year of 1975, my English Teacher, Mr Tankard was incredulous that my literature primarily consisted of reading Russian authors such as Leo Tolstoy, Alexander Solzhenitsyn and even Fyodor Dostoevsky. From the age of 11 years I had been reading everything that I could find on the Second World War, and had ended up studying Adolph Hitler and the “Final Solution” in particular when about 13 or 14 years of age, I studied how the SS had implemented the objectives of their Nazi overlords. I had become thoroughly sickened of the atrocities committed and from the age of 14 years, changed my reading from non fiction to fiction and thus had been reading various German and Russian authors. (I wonder now days if I fully comprehended the literature?) Mr Tankard said I must lighten up and try read something different, why not try science fiction? I took his advice and was hooked. Then I started to read tons of the stuff.

I later watched Star Wars, but it was just too "cute" for me, because I had been reading science fiction for a couple of years and imagined space to be a lot nastier, where mankind will be quite insignificant. In 1979 the ultimate science fiction movie came out, “Alien”. I loved it although it scared the crap out of me. My brother Gary and his girlfriend came to watch the movie with me. She didn’t watch the movie as I think it was too scary for her; she just sat there and laughed at us when we jumped in synchronised fright at certain stages in the movie. I loved the movie, the concepts and everything to do with it, its just that I could not handle the fear factor. I will still watch any movie that has good sci-fi in it, I will endure any terror just to see them

[the nasty Alien]

One of my younger brothers, Dave, used to invite his friends to come watch videos at our parent’s house. This was in the early 1980’s. It was quite a large group of boys and girls and the order of the day was scary movies. I watched with them but I would always leave the room when the suspense got too much for me. When everyone screamed, then I would rush back and see what was happening. They all had a good laugh at my expense.

My nephew Caleb, has moved into our home recently in order to attend a prestigious culinary school in Gauteng. However Caleb loves scary movies and keeps watching the darn things with his girlfriend, I “sort of watch”, while I am "busy" on my laptop. When the tension gets too great for me then “something” becomes urgent on my laptop, and I conveniently stop watching.

So with reference to scary movies, I am no different from the 1970’s until today in 2017, I am no braver, sadly I will always be a coward!